Top News

News India Live, Digital Desk: Imagine that you go to the market to buy a liter of milk and it costs you more than a gram of gold. This may sound like the story of a fictional movie, but this is the reality today in the South American country Venezuela. While gold prices in India are touching the level of ₹1.50 lakh (per 10 grams), gold is so cheap in Venezuela that you can get gold jewelery made for just a few thousand rupees.

Milk and egg prices broke records

At present, the economic situation in Venezuela is so bad that everyday food items are out of reach of the common man. According to the latest data, the price of one liter of milk there is around ₹ 175 and for a dozen eggs, people have to pay up to ₹ 233. In contrast, the price of 24 carat gold there remains only between ₹130 to ₹200 per gram in Indian currency. That means you can buy about one and a half grams of gold for the price of one liter of milk.

After all, why is gold being sold at the price of soil?

The biggest reason behind this strange situation in Venezuela is its ‘hyperinflation’. The value of the country’s currency ‘Bolivar’ has become almost zero in the international market. Corruption, wrong economic policies and US sanctions have broken the back of the country. Despite Venezuela having the world’s largest oil reserves, its economy has collapsed like a house of cards. Due to shortage of cash and falling credibility of the currency, the local market of precious metals like gold has been completely affected there.

Hobbies like the rich, but life like the poor.

The surprising thing is that despite gold being cheap, the life of the common citizens there is very difficult. People are using small pieces of gold to buy the things they need. The scales at the shops there are being used to weigh grains as well as gold. Experts say that when a country’s currency fails completely, people return to the Barter System and in Venezuela today gold has become a medium of exchange.